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INTERPOL and France's Ministry of the Interior co-host international conference

LYON, France – Senior representatives from governments, law enforcement, industry, security and academia from around the world are gathering in Lyon for the first Technology Against Crime forum to identify and develop technology-led responses to evolving security challenges.

Co-hosted by France's Ministry of the Interior and INTERPOL, the two-day conference (8 and 9 July) will see more than 600 participants from nearly 60 countries discuss four principal themes and emerging trends where technology plays a crucial role for law enforcement and public security: fighting transnational crime and enhancing border security; protecting identity; securing public spaces; and safeguarding fundamental rights and freedoms.

Opening the conference, France's Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls emphasized the need for technological solutions to respect the highly sensitive aspect of data protection.

“The face of the criminal has changed, it is that of technology, it is invisible and borderless. For countries, organizations and the private sector alike, we need to create a culture of information security. This is the first time that there has been a forward-looking and practical conference with public freedom as a guiding theme. It is today that we prepare the results of tomorrow,” said Mr Valls.

European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecelia Malmström said the Forum was a timely event.

“Technology is a powerful tool, but we need to work together for a common understanding. As we fix the problems of today, criminals are seeking tomorrow’s opportunities. Our job is to make sure that we take a greater advantage of technology and to create strong alliances that make a real lifelong difference in the fight against crime,” said Commissioner Malmström.

INTERPOL President Mireille Ballestrazzi said: “Our capacity for future action is based on the strategic foresight that we engage in today. It requires identifying the drivers of change to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow, and it also requires anticipating future risks so that we can prioritize our activities in order to meet the challenges ahead.

“There are many obstacles in achieving this, but there is one response which is cooperation, which is why this Forum plays such an important role,” concluded President Ballestrazzi.

“This forum provides a unique opportunity for sharing perspectives on how technology-led innovation can be effective in preventing and fighting a variety of criminal threats, while respecting the rights of individuals,” said President of the Forum's Coordination Association and Singapore's Senior Deputy Secretary of Home Affairs, Khoo Boon Hui.

“Use of state-of-the-art and innovative technology has been at the core of INTERPOL's support of police throughout our long history,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

“Innovative technology and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders shall forever remain the engine of INTERPOL’s evolution as, together with our 190 member countries, we pursue a vision of a safer world,” added the INTERPOL Chief, pointing to the world police body’s cooperation with public bodies such as the European Union, and the private sector, including Entrust, Kaspersky Lab, NEC Corporation, the Safran group and Trend Micro.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the recent Boston bombings were an example of how technology can play a key role for criminals – the blueprints for the pressure cooker bomb had been downloaded from the Internet – and for the police, who used CCTV footage to swiftly identify the suspects and cutting edge communication technology to coordinate an unprecedented terrorist manhunt in the US.

Delegates were welcomed to the event by Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon followed by a round-table discussion between Khoo Boon Hui, Singapore's Senior Deputy Secretary of Home Affairs, Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security, and Gilles de Kerchove, European Union Counter-terrorism Coordinator, focusing on the main issues to be addressed during the two-day conference.